Dogs definitely do it, but do cats dream?

Question: It’s common knowledge to anyone who has had a pet dog that they dream just like we humans do. They’ll be asleep on the floor, with their legs twitching and their mouths moving as if barking.

But I’ve never witnessed this in any pet cats that I’ve had. Do cats dream? I hope you can enlighten me. — E.J.S., Dover Plains, New York

Answer: Your question comes up on occasion in my column. Cats do indeed dream, entering the same rapid eye movement (REM) stage as humans and other animals. They exhibit the same low-amplitude, fastfrequency electrical brain activity seen in humans who, when awakened at that time, usually recall having been dreaming. Some people claim to never have dreams, good or bad, most probably because they never wake up in the middle of (or just after) a REM episode.

My wife, Deanna Krantz, and I can attest to the fact that cats and dogs do probably have the equivalent of nightmares. Regarding our recently rescued dogs, we would often hear them yelping and even howling terribly in their sleep, no doubt reliving past traumatic events. The same was true for one of our cats, whom we rescued as a survivor of several Minnesota winters.

For his first two years with us, he would cry out in his sleep on many nights, and we would gently comfort him.

This particular cat would “talk” for some time before going to sleep curled beside Deanna’s head and emit an extraordinary range of sounds, from coos and purrs to sighs and whispers.

One note: Always be cautious awakening any animal having a nightmare because the initial arousal reaction could be to bite or scratch out of terror.

Another rescued cat, who was semi-starved when we trapped him in midwinter, will do very tiny paw, ear and whisker twitches and flutters in his sleep, and sometimes make sucking sounds and knead with his paws as though nursing.

But cats generally show less physical activity than dogs when they are dreaming. They seem to have a different sleep pattern from dogs, enjoying frequent “cat naps,” from which they can awaken immediately, whereas awakening from a deeper dreaming state can be associated with an initial disorientation until full wakefulness is regained.

In general, let sleeping dogs and cats lie.

And observe closely, especially when the old arthritic dog is woofing and wagging his tail and running like a puppy in his dreams, and the old cat is twitching his whiskers and flicking his tail at mice to catch.

Orangutan observed self-medicating

Researchers filmed an orangutan in Borneo’s Sabangau Forest chewing Dracaena cantleyi leaves, then rubbing the resulting lather on her body to ease joint and muscle inflammation.

Indigenous people use the plant for the same purpose, and a chemical analysis showed that extracts from the leaves inhibit inflammatory cytokines. — The Independent, Jan. 12